Medtronic settles heart valve patent war with Edwards LifeSciences

Following years of being entrenched in an arduous legal war, Edwards Lifesciences and Medtronic announced a settlement relating to a patent dispute over transcatheter heart valve.

The replacement valve spares patients from open heart surgery. Reuters reports the market in the U.S. for the procedure is expected to top $500 million in 2014, and will likely double that by 2018. Edwards was first to market with its Sapien technology valve in 2011 in the U.S. while Medronic received regulatory approval for CoreValve earlier this year.

Medtronic, a medical device manufacturer, will have to pay $750 million to California-based Edwards Lifesciences Corp, plus royalties of a least $40 million per year through 2022. According to Forbes.com, the two companies agreed not to sue each other over transcatheter heart valves patents for the next eight years.

Forbes.com reports the agreement between the two sides comes a little more than a month after Edwards was victorious in another legal battle with Medtronic over which company could have limited the availability of CoreValve in the U.S.

Medtronic released the following statement from John Liddicoat, president of the company’s Structural Heart business: “This agreement brings to an end years of disputes between our companies related to TAVI patents, and allows both companies to make their respective therapies available to physicians and patients around the world. With this resolution, we are pleased that Medtronic will be able to continue to provide the CoreValve System, as well as other products, to patients who need them in the US and abroad without the overhang of any potential injunction or additional damages.”

Meanwhile, Edwards Lifesciences said the company was pleased to reach a settlement that “preserves physician choice while also recognizing Edwards’ leadership in pioneering the transcatheter heart valves that are chosen most often by physicians worldwide.”

According to Reuters, Medtronic said net earnings declined to $448 million, or 44 cents a share, in the quarter ended April 25, from $969 million, or 95 cents a share, a year earlier.